In recent years environment considerations in virtually all industries have dictated that discharge of industrial waste, whether solid, liquid or gas, or combinations thereof, be treated before these wastes are released to the environment. One of the earliest forms of waste to be identified was that of air pollution which may be in the form of virtually any pollutant which is released to the atmosphere. Many industries however must release gases which contain particulates that must be treated in some manner to meet enviornmental quality control standards.
In an environment in which an industry may release dust laden gases, a well known type of device for removing dust particulates from a gaseous stream is that known as an industrial dust collector. Such collectors typically have a filtration or clean air chamber in which rows of fabric filter bags are suspended with a lower end held to the chamber floor over openings through the floor. A gas intake chamber, which may form part of a hopper, is mounted beneath the filtration chamber floor.
The Wheelabrator-Frye Corporation manufactures an industrial dust collector of the type just described which is known as the Wheelabrator Dustube Collector. This type of collector is operated by forcing dust laden gas into the gas intake chamber and then upwardly through the holes in the gas intake chamber ceiling above and into fabric filter bags with the filtration chamber thereabove. The gas is then forced through the filter bags which affects the filtering operation and then out of the filtration chamber to ambient atmosphere. By means of the filtration action of the fabric bags, the particulate matter or dust that is carried by the gas is retained inside the fabric bags to be later deposited into hopper beneath the filtration chamber by agitation of the bags. With the passage of time the fabric filter bags may deteriorate to a point where some particulate matter will commence to pass through the bags and be deposited upon the gas effluent, exterior side thereof. In some cases this is a slow process while in other cases the bag may rupture abruptly.
A second type of dust collector in common usage is a type similar to that just described, however the principle of operation utilizes a system in which the dust is collected on the outside of the filter bags. In this system the bags are prevented from collapsing by means of wire retainer supports. In this case the filter bag is literally, the filter chamber and projects into the gas intake chamber.
Heretofore the gas effluent or clean air sides of the filter bags within the filtration chamber have been ordinarily cleaned manually as by sweeping particulate matter on the bags or on the floor therebeneath into the gas intake chamber and hopper through a sealable opening such as a trap door in the filtration chamber floor. This procedure is not only time consuming, tedious and a very unpleasant task but even one that is dangerous for maintenance personnel. The filtration chambers are ordinarily quite large in which dust may collect from several inches to even several feet in depth. By sweeping the chamber a tremendous amount of dust is stirred up which may be inhaled by the worker unless he is supplied with oxygen tank and mask. In other cases vacuum cleaners have been employed but their use has required the availability of electric power within the filtration chamber. Furthermore, they have also required their own filters and dust storage space which must also be periodically cleaned and the collected dust transferred.
In addition to the foregoing problems, workers have also had to enter the filtration chambers of industrial dust collectors periodically to inspect the condition of the filter bags to determine which, if any, should be replaced due to deterioration or rupture. Because of the hazard of sending workmen into this environment many users have eliminated such inspections by replacing all of the filter bags periodically. This is obviously expensive and wasteful since properly functioning filter bags are replaced by this method along with those in marginal condition.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved system and method for cleaning industrial dust collectors.
More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved system and method for cleaning the filtration chambers of industrial dust collectors of the type having fabric filter bags mounted within the filtration chambers.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved means and methods for inspecting fabric filter bags mounted within a filtration chamber of industrial dust collectors.